Derek Keating

Keating became a TD for Dublin Mid-West in February 2011,^[6][7] serving until 2016 alongside Leo Varadkar, in which Varadkar described Keating as a "hard-working public representative".^[8][9] Keating was re-elected for Fine Gael in 2011 following vote shares in his favor at 26.88 percent in the 2009 elections, which was the strongest votes in the country.^[3]

During Budget debates in December 2012, Keating hit out at what he saw as a "Culture of Dependence" in Ireland, saying: "increased dependency on the State encourages a new lifestyle of welfare economy ... a woman will have a lone parent allowance, children’s allowance, rent subsidy, school grants, a medical card, fuel allowance and special payments from the community welfare officer which come under section 13 of the Social Welfare Act for exceptional payments".^[10]

Later in December 2012, Keating returned €7,571 of expenses to the Government, following a sample audit of expenses.^[11]

Keating was accused in May 2013, in a newspaper article by a school principal in Lucan, of falsely claiming credit for getting an extension to the school. His parliamentary aide, Tommy Morris, was then investigated by the Garda Síochána for taking about 3,000 copies of the Lucan Gazette (which carried the article) from local shops and dumping them. Keating said Morris acted without his knowledge or consent. Fine Gael also condemned the action.^[12]

In July 2013, a protest held outside his home by a anti-abortion group led to him leaving as he felt threatened by their behaviour.^[13] The protestors had shouted at him to open the door and banged on his front door and windows.^[13] He called Gardaí and provided names of people he had recognised. Gardaí said that they had been called but that no arrests were made.^[13]

After losing his seat at the 2016 general election,^[2] Keating attempted to get re-elected to South Dublin County Council in the 2019 local elections, but did not succeed.^[3][9]

Keating was married to Anne, a former deputy school principal, for more than four decades till his death; they had two daughters.^[3]

Keating was diagnosed with dementia late in his life; he was reported to be "still doing 5K runs" in late 2022, but his health deteriorated quickly in the following months.^[3] He died on 6 May 2023, at the age of 67.^[14]